Book Drives New York

The Tombs of Atuan Discussion

Come join us for an in-depth discussion of themes and motifs in Ursula K. Le Guin's *The Tombs of Atuan*, an indirect sequel to *A Wizard of Earthsea*! (Note: You don't need to have read *Earthsea* before reading *Tombs*, so anyone can immediately pick it up.)

Manhattan Smutty Book Club -

The book for this month is Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon. You'd think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you'd be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo of human women - including me - on an ice planet. And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me... Please join us at Cornerstone Tavern, 961 2nd Ave, New York, NY (51st and 2nd) for great conversation, laughs, and friendship. Look for our signs, and listen for the laughter. We are often in the back of Cornerstone behind the curtain, which is actually a different restaurant called the Stags Head. We start at 7pm, but feel free to come early before happy hour ends at 7. People usually start to drift in by 6:30pm.

Book Swap @ Central Park

***The Meetup guest limit is 10 because of the free event limit, but we have unlimited space for people to join us.*** Book swap 11am-2pm at Sheep Meadow in Central Park. Look for books and the sign. This is a drop-in/drop-out event, meaning you don't have to stay the entire time. All genres, all sizes, and all conditions welcome. Leftover books will be recycled at future book swaps. **Don't have a book to contribute?** We'll have plenty of extras for you. **Not a big reader?** Come hang out anyway!

NYC Romcom Book Club 💕 Elevator Pitch by Evelyn Leigh

At this meeting we will discuss the Elevator Pitch by Evelyn Leigh 😊

It’s No joke it’s April new book club book It Girl ..Allison Pataki

Okay so many of our members are 9-5 during weekdays and miss our mall walks in preparation for our outdoor activities for evening and weekends this spring So while we wait on Mother Nature Let’s exercise our mind. I’ve selected The book “It Girl” The story of the original Gibson girl the woman who captured the imagination of new yorkers while Becoming the face of beauty but the rise to the top was filled with heart ache ,pain determation and murder, encountering power hungry men , and the crime of the century . This book will lead to a future trip to learn more about the real life inspiration for this book Meetup time frame for book readers is April 1 st to end of may. But site won’t allow that to be posted. So please write finish date I. Your personal calendar

🥂🥞📚 Rooftop Brunch and Book Discussion: The Book Club for Troublesome Women

The Perks of Being a Wallflower discussion

We will discuss *The Perks of Being a Wallflower* by Stephen Chbosky on Wed., May 27 at 7 p.m. at Agora Taverna, 70-09 Austin St., Forest Hills. It is a block south of Queens Blvd. on the corner of 70th Ave., close to the 71st/Continental stop on the E/F/M/R trains. The menu is at https://agora-taverna.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/DINNER-MENU-2025-6.pdf

“Heartwood” - Amity Gaige: Brunch and Book Chat

Book to be discussed: “Tramps Like Us” by Joe Westmoreland

"*Tramps Like Us* is a modern day Huckleberry Finn. It's an all-American story about the search for home, for a better life, feeling like a refugee in one's own country. It's about creating a family from a group of misfits. It tells what it was like to come of age in the era between gay liberation and the beginning of the AIDS crisis." — [goodreads.com](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217388193-tramps-like-us?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_16) After the meeting, we head over to Julius' (one of the oldest operating gay bars in NYC) to chat about things other than books. Julius' is at 159 West 10th Street (on the corner of Waverly Place, about a block from the library). www.juliusbarny.com

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

WE ARE MEETING IN THE SECOND FLOOR OF BROOKFIELD PLACE NEAR THE TABLES BY "CLEAN MARKET" Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own. Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek: The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault. Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams…. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion. With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like. But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies…or lead to their doom.

"What We Can Know", by Ian McEwan

2014: At a dinner for close friends and colleagues, renowned poet Francis Blundy honors his wife’s birthday by reading aloud a new poem dedicated to her, ‘A Corona for Vivien’. Much wine is drunk as the guests listen, and a delicious meal consumed. Little does anyone gathered around the candlelit table know that for generations to come people will speculate about the message of this poem, a copy of which has never been found, and which remains an enduring mystery. 2119: Just over one hundred years in the future, much of the western world has been submerged by rising seas following a catastrophic nuclear accident. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost. In the water-logged south of what used to be England, Thomas Metcalfe, a lonely scholar and researcher, longs for the early twenty-first century as he chases the ghost of one poem, ‘A Corona for Vivian’. How wild and full of risk their lives were, thinks Thomas, as he pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the elusive poem’s discovery, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a brutal crime that destroy his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well. What We Can Know is a masterpiece, a fictional tour de force, a love story about both people and the words they leave behind, a literary detective story which reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.

Read on the Lawn Day at Bryant Park

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*THIS IS NOT A MOCHA GIRLS READ EVENT\*\*\*\*\*\* For more details and to RSVP, please click here: [https://luma.com/dmf63e70](https://luma.com/dmf63e70) About Event ​On Monday June 1, join us for a huge outdoor reading party on the iconic Bryant Park lawn! ​The Reading Room has officially opened, and to celebrate Bryant Park is hosting its first ever reading party on the lawn in partnership with Reading Rhythms. "Read on the Lawn Day" kicks off this year’s literary lineup of free weekly events that include lunchtime author panels, poetry readings, writing workshops, and quiet reading sessions. The open-air Reading Room also offers daily visitors a curated selection of free-to-read books, newspapers, and magazines. ​​Bring a picnic blanket, a friend, and whatever you're reading, then get comfy. We'll open with reading sessions on the lawn set to ambient music, and weave in lively book discussions among the readers around you. It's a celebration of everything the Reading Room stands for: a shared love of books, an open-air space in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, and an evening you'll want to come back for. Pre-registration recommended. ​​ABOUT READING RHYTHMS: Reading Rhythms is a series of welcoming reading parties designed to make it easy for people to gather and read socially. We invite you to bring any book you want. The party host will facilitate silent reading periods, as well as 1-on-1 breakouts and group discussions. ​​In a world that can often feel devoid of interest and meaningful connection, we bring readers together to reconnect with our love of learning, to experience the wonder of beautiful venues and curated music, and to gather amongst all of the people who want to be in that very same room. ​ABOUT BRYANT PARK: Bryant Park Corporation (BPC), a private not-for-profit company, was founded in 1980 to renovate, finance, and operate Bryant Park in New York City. In addition to providing security, sanitation, and horticultural services, BPC offers restaurants, food kiosks, world-class restrooms, and a wide range of free events throughout the year. The Midtown Manhattan park is visited by more than 20 million people each year and is one of the busiest public spaces in the world. The Bryant Park Reading Room was first established in 1935 by the New York Public Library as a refuge for the thousands of unemployed New Yorkers during the Great Depression. Reopened in 2003, the Reading Room hosts nearly a hundred literary events each season. Visit [bryantpark.org](https://bryantpark.org/?utm_source=luma) for more information and a calendar of events. ​*Our favorite conversations happen in the Reading Rhythms mobile app. Join us there → [https://readingrhythms.app](https://readingrhythms.app/?utm_source=luma)*___________________________________________________________________ ​​**Disclaimer:** By purchasing a ticket, you agree to have your photo/video used for social media/marketing materials, both as property of Reading Rhythms and other publications that may be present at our reading parties. Additionally, your purchase is final and no refunds will be given under any circumstances. By completing your purchase, you will also be automatically added to the Bryant Park Reading Room and Reading Rhythms newsletters to receive updates and event information.